The CDS information hub

Abstract

Abstract. The Centre de données astronomiques de Strasbourg (CDS) provides homogeneous access to heterogeneous information of various origins: information about astronomical objects in Simbad; catalogs and observation logs in VizieR and in the catalogue service; reference images and overlays in Aladin; nomenclature in the Dictionary of Nomenclature; Yellow Page services; the AstroGLU resource discovery tool; mirror copies of other reference services; and documentation. With the implementation of links between the CDS services, and with other on-line reference information, CDS has become a major hub in the rapidly evolving world of information retrieval in astronomy, developing efficient tools to help astronomers to navigate in the world-wide "Virtual Observatory" under construction, from data in the observatory archives to results published in journals.The WWW interface to the CDS services is available at: http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/

The SIMBAD astronomical database

“…A detailed description of the CDS on-line services can be found, e.g., in Egret et al (1995) and in Genova et al (1996Genova et al ( , 1998Genova et al ( , 2000, or at the CDS web site 1 . Questions or comments about the CDS services can be sent to the hot line question@simbad.u-strasbg.fr.…”

“…While the CDS databases have followed different development paths, the need to build a transparent access to the whole set of CDS services has become more and more obvious with the easy navigation permitted by hypertext tools (Genova et al 2000). Aladin has become the prototype of such a development, by giving comprehensive simultaneous access to Simbad, the VizieR Catalogue service, and to external databases such as NED, using a client/server approach and, when possible, standardized query syntax and formats.…”

The ALADIN interactive sky atlas

“…A detailed description of the CDS on-line services can be found, e.g., in Egret et al (1995) and in Genova et al (1996Genova et al ( , 1998Genova et al ( , 2000, or at the CDS web site 1 .…”

Virtual Observatories

“…As explained above, IUE is an early example of an electronic, accessible data archive. Another early example of data centre is the Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg (Genova et al 2000), which was created in 1972. One of its major services, SIMBAD, was implemented in 1983, from the merging of two databases which had been produced at the beginning of the 70's.…”